The Cliff House - San Francisco, California

Perched on a dramatic outcropping at headlands just north of Ocean Beach, the first Cliff House was built by an ex-Mormon elder from Maine, who constructed the mansion from salvaged lumber taken from a shipwreck on the rocks below. That early edifice gave way to several more incarnations of varying degrees of size and opulence. The current structure on this scenic promontory is a restaurant, part of the federally operated Golden Gate National Recreation Area.